Wikipedia:What is one event
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What is one event? Since the 2008 election season, a number of articles have been submitted for deletion discussions in part or in whole based on WP:BIO1E and WP:BLP1E, which discourage Wikipedia from having separate articles on people playing minor roles in major events or major roles in minor events. Public exposure from single events can be compared to the phenomenon of 15 minutes of fame.
Definitionally, an event is an "occurrence of social or personal importance". That is, a single specific act that has taken place with a defined beginning and end, which may last for a second or two, or multiple days.
Events can include, but are not limited to:
- asking a question
- an audition
- almost having a famous mother-in-law
- landing a plane
- praying
- suing... well, almost everyone
Each of these biographies of living people started off with the single event in question, and ballooned from there. What links these events together is that in each case, Wikipedia consensus favored keeping such an article despite arguments that BLP1E or BIO1E applied to the subject.
On review, once an article has been kept at an AfD, subsequent attempts to delete the article as a BLP1E or BIO1E violation have been roundly unsuccessful:
- Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Joe the Plumber (2nd nomination)
- Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Orly Taitz (3rd nomination)
What do all these have in common? The fruit of the poisonous tree does not apply to Wikipedia notability. When an individual is covered for a single event, and the spotlight follows that individual into their new endeavors, WP:BLP1E and WP:BIO1E have not been held by the Wikipedia community to be compelling reasons for deletion.
Examples of "One event" applied successfully:
- Scott Janke had previously been mentioned infrequently by local news for his city manager job, and then hit U.S. national news when he was fired for being married to a porn actress (who was not herself notable by Wikipedia standards). Being fired was one event, after which he vanished from the news and his article from Wikipedia.